SEMA News—September 2014

INTERNATIONAL
By Linda Spencer

Tips on Maximizing International Opportunities at the 2014 SEMA Show

Here is a handy summary of international programs designed to help manufacturers connect to new markets and cross-border customers at this year’s Show:

Roundtable Discussions on Top Emerging Markets With Key Overseas Buyers

• Monday, November 3, Upper North Hall, Room N259

Expand your company’s reach by learning during these interactive sessions which emerging markets are the most promising for your products and why. Top specialty-equipment distributors and retailers will talk about the challenges and opportunities in their markets. Also, learn about the top-selling products for street performance, off-roading and other growing niches.

• Monday, November 3, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
• Seminar: IT1: International
• Middle East Opportunities for SEMA-Member Manufacturers

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the surrounding countries provide some of the best opportunities for U.S. manufacturers. Off-roading, car collecting and motor-sports are growing in popularity. Learn how to cash in on this lucrative region. Attendees will also learn about the details of the second SEMA one-on-one matchmaking program being held in the UAE in March 2015.

• Monday, November 3, 1:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m.
• Seminar: IT2: International
• The Developing Russian Specialty-Equipment Market

• Monday, November 3, 3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.
• Seminar: IT3: International
• Insider Tips: Selling Specialty-Equipment Products in China, the World’s Largest Emerging Automotive Market

Chinese distributors and SEMA members already successful in the region provide insider tips. Learn the latest trends, applications and perceptions of United States brands in the Chinese market. This informal, practical session will be a great opportunity to meet with press and distributors of specialty products to assist you in deciding if this market of 1.3 billion people is a good fit for your products. Learn about the growing distribution system of the emerging markets as the outlet for U.S. goods spreads to shops throughout China—the most advanced market in the developing world.

Center for International Commerce

Exhibitors and international buyers are invited to use the Center for International Commerce (CIC) throughout the SEMA Show. Three private conference rooms and interpreters in key languages will be available free of charge. The CIC will be located in room N255 of the Las Vegas Convention Center and is a valuable resource for SEMA Show exhibitors and international buyers. SEMA’s international staff will be on hand at the CIC, as will a team of interpreters to assist in bilingual communication in key languages that include German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese. Complimentary private meeting rooms are also available.

International Happy Hour

More than 1,000 companies are expected at the 11th annual SEMA International Happy Hour. The event provides an excellent opportunity to network with buyers and distributors from around the world. Top international media from key overseas markets will also be in attendance. The event is open to exhibitors and international buyers. For more information, e-mail bettyg@sema.org or visit sema.org/international.

Ninth AnnualGlobal Media Awards

The Global Media Awards will once again be selected by a group of top automotive journalists from more than 20 countries who will each name 10 products from the New Products Showcase that they think will most appeal to consumers in their home markets. Winning companies receive the awards, which signify the global appeal of their products, and the companies will be recognized at the International Happy Hour. To be considered, make sure that your products are featured in the New Products Showcase.

International Sales Staff

Arrange for your designated international sales manager to be available at the 2014 SEMA Show to meet with foreign buyers.

“We Export” Signs

Let international buyers know that you export. Display a multilingual “We Export” sign in your booth. Don’t know where to get one? Contact lindas@sema.org.

Manufacture Products for Overseas Vehicles?

Put a sign in the your booth notifying customers that you make products for the Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger T6 and other vehicles widely accessorized overseas but not sold in the United States.

SEMA News—September 2014

INTERNET
By Joe Dysart

Facebook’s Crackdown on Free Business Posts

For Many, a Bitter Pill

Businesses smarting over Facebook’s decision to severely limit their ability to communicate with people who like their business pages on the social network recently got an explanation from the web titan about the policy change. But many aren’t buying it.

“Facebook wants us to pay for real estate that we used to get for free,” said Leslie Nuccio, creative strategist for Meltwater, a social media monitoring and press relations firm.

Before the policy change, businesses absolutely loved the Facebook “Like” system. Essentially, people who clicked a button and Liked a business page on Facebook regularly received posts from that business in their Facebook News Feed. (The News Feed is the middle column on a user’s Facebook homepage that shows posts from friends, posts from businesses they’ve Liked on Facebook and old-school advertising posts.)

The Like was a marketer’s dream, in that a business on Facebook could stay in constant—sometimes daily—contact with customers by sending out interesting posts related to their products or services. Indeed, a corporate business that had, say, 300,000 people who Liked its business page on Facebook could post a text-and-image message to the social network, and all 300,000 people who were followers of the company would see that message at absolutely no cost to the business.

The smartest of these businesses also quickly realized that the way to stay Liked among current and potential customers was to engage in an authentic “conversation” with Facebook users rather than launch old-school posts in promotional blast form. In the technical jargon of marketing, this ability to send posts for free to everyone who Liked your business page on Facebook is known as “organic reach,” and marketers love it.

Sadly, however, that cozy relationship between businesses and Facebook users began to degrade about two years ago when Facebook started to severely throttle back the “reach” of posts that businesses were sending people who had Liked their pages. The result is that as little as 6% or fewer of people who have Liked a business page on Facebook these days actually receive any particular post that business sends over the social network, according to Marshall Manson, a managing director at Ogilvy & Mather. Moreover, Manson predicts that it’s only a matter of time before the organic reach of businesses on Facebook will plummet to zero.

Officially, Facebook insists that the only reason businesses on the social network are now reaching only a fraction of the people they used to reach is due to an enhanced content-filtering process that the social network has been fine-tuning during the past year. Essentially, Facebook said that its users are being inundated with too much content on a daily basis from both businesses and other users. So the social network is increasingly filtering the content that shows up in a user’s News Feed based on the data Facebook finds in that user’s Facebook profile and in his or her activity on Facebook.

“Rather than showing people all possible content, News Feed is designed to show each person on Facebook the content that’s most relevant to them,” said Brian Boland, lead for the ads marketing team at Facebook. “To choose which stories to show, News Feed ranks each possible story from more to less important by looking at thousands of factors relative to each person.”

According to Boland, this filtering process is an entirely benign and innocent attempt by Facebook to ensure that Facebook users’ News Feeds are absolutely as relevant and interesting as humanely possible.

“In our tests, we’ve always found that the News Feed ranking system offers people a better, more engaging experience on Facebook,” Boland said. “We’ve gotten better at showing high-quality content. And we’ve cleaned up News Feed spam.”

Maybe so. But in the view of many businesses that have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars over the years reaching out to Facebook users—cajoling, tempting and rewarding them to Like their business pages—Facebook’s move to severely throttle back their ability to post to those Facebook followers feels like a money grab.

“To be fair to the brands here, Facebook has put on a real dog-and-pony show over the past several years to convince companies that building up their followers is a great idea and that the big payoff is the earned media that we were getting in those News Feeds,” said Meltwater’s Nuccio.

Indeed, Facebook’s Boland is quick to note that businesses wanting to override Facebook’s content filtering system and get a post into the News Feed of all the people who have Liked their business pages on Facebook can still do so. They just have to pay for it now.

In Facebook terms, that override is called a Boost, and it’s available to any business that is willing to pay for the added reach, often billed on a per-thousand-users rate scheme. Again, this “option” smells like a money grab to many Facebook business users. But like it or hate it, Facebook’s Boosts and its content-filtering system appear to be here to stay for the long haul.

While it may take many businesses some time to cotton to that new reality, they still have some ways right now to deal with the new regime:

Encourage Facebook Followers to Check “Get Notifications”: People who have Liked a business’ Facebook page can signal to Facebook that they really do want to see posts from the business if they check the Get Notifications option. To check this option, users may:

• Click “Pages Feed” on the Facebook homepage to see all the pages they’ve Liked
• Scroll through those pages to see a post from the specific business
• Click on an arrow in the right-hand corner of the business’s post
• Highlight and click “Get Notifications’

Encourage Your Followers to Recommend Your Posts: Facebook automatically increases the reach of a post from your business if one or more of your followers recommend your post to a friend or colleague. Encourage your followers to do this with every post you make.

Beef Up Your E-Mail Marketing: Many businesses are aggressively seeking the e-mail addresses of people who have Liked them on Facebook. The theory is that people have already signaled that they want communications from the business if they’ve gone out of their way to Like it on Facebook. With e-mail, you can go directly to these people without worrying about a middle man.

Bite the Bullet and Buy the Boost: Even though the deal is not nearly as good as before (when posts used to be free), buying a Boost from Facebook to reach everyone who’s Liked your page is still relatively inexpensive compared to other advertising.

“Facebook placement is really, really cheap compared to other channels,” said Meltwater’s Nuccio. “I have a consultant friend who works with a charity, and they saw their organic reach tank by 90% from a reach of 750 to about 75 with the recent changes. They then spent $200 for promoted posts, and they reached 4,500 people.”

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan.
646-233-4089
joe@joedysart.com
www.joedysart.com

SEMA News—September 2014

INTERNET
By Joe Dysart

Facebook’s Crackdown on Free Business Posts

For Many, a Bitter Pill

Businesses smarting over Facebook’s decision to severely limit their ability to communicate with people who like their business pages on the social network recently got an explanation from the web titan about the policy change. But many aren’t buying it.

“Facebook wants us to pay for real estate that we used to get for free,” said Leslie Nuccio, creative strategist for Meltwater, a social media monitoring and press relations firm.

Before the policy change, businesses absolutely loved the Facebook “Like” system. Essentially, people who clicked a button and Liked a business page on Facebook regularly received posts from that business in their Facebook News Feed. (The News Feed is the middle column on a user’s Facebook homepage that shows posts from friends, posts from businesses they’ve Liked on Facebook and old-school advertising posts.)

The Like was a marketer’s dream, in that a business on Facebook could stay in constant—sometimes daily—contact with customers by sending out interesting posts related to their products or services. Indeed, a corporate business that had, say, 300,000 people who Liked its business page on Facebook could post a text-and-image message to the social network, and all 300,000 people who were followers of the company would see that message at absolutely no cost to the business.

The smartest of these businesses also quickly realized that the way to stay Liked among current and potential customers was to engage in an authentic “conversation” with Facebook users rather than launch old-school posts in promotional blast form. In the technical jargon of marketing, this ability to send posts for free to everyone who Liked your business page on Facebook is known as “organic reach,” and marketers love it.

Sadly, however, that cozy relationship between businesses and Facebook users began to degrade about two years ago when Facebook started to severely throttle back the “reach” of posts that businesses were sending people who had Liked their pages. The result is that as little as 6% or fewer of people who have Liked a business page on Facebook these days actually receive any particular post that business sends over the social network, according to Marshall Manson, a managing director at Ogilvy & Mather. Moreover, Manson predicts that it’s only a matter of time before the organic reach of businesses on Facebook will plummet to zero.

Officially, Facebook insists that the only reason businesses on the social network are now reaching only a fraction of the people they used to reach is due to an enhanced content-filtering process that the social network has been fine-tuning during the past year. Essentially, Facebook said that its users are being inundated with too much content on a daily basis from both businesses and other users. So the social network is increasingly filtering the content that shows up in a user’s News Feed based on the data Facebook finds in that user’s Facebook profile and in his or her activity on Facebook.

“Rather than showing people all possible content, News Feed is designed to show each person on Facebook the content that’s most relevant to them,” said Brian Boland, lead for the ads marketing team at Facebook. “To choose which stories to show, News Feed ranks each possible story from more to less important by looking at thousands of factors relative to each person.”

According to Boland, this filtering process is an entirely benign and innocent attempt by Facebook to ensure that Facebook users’ News Feeds are absolutely as relevant and interesting as humanely possible.

“In our tests, we’ve always found that the News Feed ranking system offers people a better, more engaging experience on Facebook,” Boland said. “We’ve gotten better at showing high-quality content. And we’ve cleaned up News Feed spam.”

Maybe so. But in the view of many businesses that have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars over the years reaching out to Facebook users—cajoling, tempting and rewarding them to Like their business pages—Facebook’s move to severely throttle back their ability to post to those Facebook followers feels like a money grab.

“To be fair to the brands here, Facebook has put on a real dog-and-pony show over the past several years to convince companies that building up their followers is a great idea and that the big payoff is the earned media that we were getting in those News Feeds,” said Meltwater’s Nuccio.

Indeed, Facebook’s Boland is quick to note that businesses wanting to override Facebook’s content filtering system and get a post into the News Feed of all the people who have Liked their business pages on Facebook can still do so. They just have to pay for it now.

In Facebook terms, that override is called a Boost, and it’s available to any business that is willing to pay for the added reach, often billed on a per-thousand-users rate scheme. Again, this “option” smells like a money grab to many Facebook business users. But like it or hate it, Facebook’s Boosts and its content-filtering system appear to be here to stay for the long haul.

While it may take many businesses some time to cotton to that new reality, they still have some ways right now to deal with the new regime:

Encourage Facebook Followers to Check “Get Notifications”: People who have Liked a business’ Facebook page can signal to Facebook that they really do want to see posts from the business if they check the Get Notifications option. To check this option, users may:

• Click “Pages Feed” on the Facebook homepage to see all the pages they’ve Liked
• Scroll through those pages to see a post from the specific business
• Click on an arrow in the right-hand corner of the business’s post
• Highlight and click “Get Notifications’

Encourage Your Followers to Recommend Your Posts: Facebook automatically increases the reach of a post from your business if one or more of your followers recommend your post to a friend or colleague. Encourage your followers to do this with every post you make.

Beef Up Your E-Mail Marketing: Many businesses are aggressively seeking the e-mail addresses of people who have Liked them on Facebook. The theory is that people have already signaled that they want communications from the business if they’ve gone out of their way to Like it on Facebook. With e-mail, you can go directly to these people without worrying about a middle man.

Bite the Bullet and Buy the Boost: Even though the deal is not nearly as good as before (when posts used to be free), buying a Boost from Facebook to reach everyone who’s Liked your page is still relatively inexpensive compared to other advertising.

“Facebook placement is really, really cheap compared to other channels,” said Meltwater’s Nuccio. “I have a consultant friend who works with a charity, and they saw their organic reach tank by 90% from a reach of 750 to about 75 with the recent changes. They then spent $200 for promoted posts, and they reached 4,500 people.”

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan.
646-233-4089
joe@joedysart.com
www.joedysart.com

SEMA News—September 2014

INTERNET
By Joe Dysart

Facebook’s Crackdown on Free Business Posts

For Many, a Bitter Pill

Businesses smarting over Facebook’s decision to severely limit their ability to communicate with people who like their business pages on the social network recently got an explanation from the web titan about the policy change. But many aren’t buying it.

“Facebook wants us to pay for real estate that we used to get for free,” said Leslie Nuccio, creative strategist for Meltwater, a social media monitoring and press relations firm.

Before the policy change, businesses absolutely loved the Facebook “Like” system. Essentially, people who clicked a button and Liked a business page on Facebook regularly received posts from that business in their Facebook News Feed. (The News Feed is the middle column on a user’s Facebook homepage that shows posts from friends, posts from businesses they’ve Liked on Facebook and old-school advertising posts.)

The Like was a marketer’s dream, in that a business on Facebook could stay in constant—sometimes daily—contact with customers by sending out interesting posts related to their products or services. Indeed, a corporate business that had, say, 300,000 people who Liked its business page on Facebook could post a text-and-image message to the social network, and all 300,000 people who were followers of the company would see that message at absolutely no cost to the business.

The smartest of these businesses also quickly realized that the way to stay Liked among current and potential customers was to engage in an authentic “conversation” with Facebook users rather than launch old-school posts in promotional blast form. In the technical jargon of marketing, this ability to send posts for free to everyone who Liked your business page on Facebook is known as “organic reach,” and marketers love it.

Sadly, however, that cozy relationship between businesses and Facebook users began to degrade about two years ago when Facebook started to severely throttle back the “reach” of posts that businesses were sending people who had Liked their pages. The result is that as little as 6% or fewer of people who have Liked a business page on Facebook these days actually receive any particular post that business sends over the social network, according to Marshall Manson, a managing director at Ogilvy & Mather. Moreover, Manson predicts that it’s only a matter of time before the organic reach of businesses on Facebook will plummet to zero.

Officially, Facebook insists that the only reason businesses on the social network are now reaching only a fraction of the people they used to reach is due to an enhanced content-filtering process that the social network has been fine-tuning during the past year. Essentially, Facebook said that its users are being inundated with too much content on a daily basis from both businesses and other users. So the social network is increasingly filtering the content that shows up in a user’s News Feed based on the data Facebook finds in that user’s Facebook profile and in his or her activity on Facebook.

“Rather than showing people all possible content, News Feed is designed to show each person on Facebook the content that’s most relevant to them,” said Brian Boland, lead for the ads marketing team at Facebook. “To choose which stories to show, News Feed ranks each possible story from more to less important by looking at thousands of factors relative to each person.”

According to Boland, this filtering process is an entirely benign and innocent attempt by Facebook to ensure that Facebook users’ News Feeds are absolutely as relevant and interesting as humanely possible.

“In our tests, we’ve always found that the News Feed ranking system offers people a better, more engaging experience on Facebook,” Boland said. “We’ve gotten better at showing high-quality content. And we’ve cleaned up News Feed spam.”

Maybe so. But in the view of many businesses that have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars over the years reaching out to Facebook users—cajoling, tempting and rewarding them to Like their business pages—Facebook’s move to severely throttle back their ability to post to those Facebook followers feels like a money grab.

“To be fair to the brands here, Facebook has put on a real dog-and-pony show over the past several years to convince companies that building up their followers is a great idea and that the big payoff is the earned media that we were getting in those News Feeds,” said Meltwater’s Nuccio.

Indeed, Facebook’s Boland is quick to note that businesses wanting to override Facebook’s content filtering system and get a post into the News Feed of all the people who have Liked their business pages on Facebook can still do so. They just have to pay for it now.

In Facebook terms, that override is called a Boost, and it’s available to any business that is willing to pay for the added reach, often billed on a per-thousand-users rate scheme. Again, this “option” smells like a money grab to many Facebook business users. But like it or hate it, Facebook’s Boosts and its content-filtering system appear to be here to stay for the long haul.

While it may take many businesses some time to cotton to that new reality, they still have some ways right now to deal with the new regime:

Encourage Facebook Followers to Check “Get Notifications”: People who have Liked a business’ Facebook page can signal to Facebook that they really do want to see posts from the business if they check the Get Notifications option. To check this option, users may:

• Click “Pages Feed” on the Facebook homepage to see all the pages they’ve Liked
• Scroll through those pages to see a post from the specific business
• Click on an arrow in the right-hand corner of the business’s post
• Highlight and click “Get Notifications’

Encourage Your Followers to Recommend Your Posts: Facebook automatically increases the reach of a post from your business if one or more of your followers recommend your post to a friend or colleague. Encourage your followers to do this with every post you make.

Beef Up Your E-Mail Marketing: Many businesses are aggressively seeking the e-mail addresses of people who have Liked them on Facebook. The theory is that people have already signaled that they want communications from the business if they’ve gone out of their way to Like it on Facebook. With e-mail, you can go directly to these people without worrying about a middle man.

Bite the Bullet and Buy the Boost: Even though the deal is not nearly as good as before (when posts used to be free), buying a Boost from Facebook to reach everyone who’s Liked your page is still relatively inexpensive compared to other advertising.

“Facebook placement is really, really cheap compared to other channels,” said Meltwater’s Nuccio. “I have a consultant friend who works with a charity, and they saw their organic reach tank by 90% from a reach of 750 to about 75 with the recent changes. They then spent $200 for promoted posts, and they reached 4,500 people.”

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan.
646-233-4089
joe@joedysart.com
www.joedysart.com

SEMA News—September 2014

INTERNET
By Joe Dysart

Facebook’s Crackdown on Free Business Posts

For Many, a Bitter Pill

Businesses smarting over Facebook’s decision to severely limit their ability to communicate with people who like their business pages on the social network recently got an explanation from the web titan about the policy change. But many aren’t buying it.

“Facebook wants us to pay for real estate that we used to get for free,” said Leslie Nuccio, creative strategist for Meltwater, a social media monitoring and press relations firm.

Before the policy change, businesses absolutely loved the Facebook “Like” system. Essentially, people who clicked a button and Liked a business page on Facebook regularly received posts from that business in their Facebook News Feed. (The News Feed is the middle column on a user’s Facebook homepage that shows posts from friends, posts from businesses they’ve Liked on Facebook and old-school advertising posts.)

The Like was a marketer’s dream, in that a business on Facebook could stay in constant—sometimes daily—contact with customers by sending out interesting posts related to their products or services. Indeed, a corporate business that had, say, 300,000 people who Liked its business page on Facebook could post a text-and-image message to the social network, and all 300,000 people who were followers of the company would see that message at absolutely no cost to the business.

The smartest of these businesses also quickly realized that the way to stay Liked among current and potential customers was to engage in an authentic “conversation” with Facebook users rather than launch old-school posts in promotional blast form. In the technical jargon of marketing, this ability to send posts for free to everyone who Liked your business page on Facebook is known as “organic reach,” and marketers love it.

Sadly, however, that cozy relationship between businesses and Facebook users began to degrade about two years ago when Facebook started to severely throttle back the “reach” of posts that businesses were sending people who had Liked their pages. The result is that as little as 6% or fewer of people who have Liked a business page on Facebook these days actually receive any particular post that business sends over the social network, according to Marshall Manson, a managing director at Ogilvy & Mather. Moreover, Manson predicts that it’s only a matter of time before the organic reach of businesses on Facebook will plummet to zero.

Officially, Facebook insists that the only reason businesses on the social network are now reaching only a fraction of the people they used to reach is due to an enhanced content-filtering process that the social network has been fine-tuning during the past year. Essentially, Facebook said that its users are being inundated with too much content on a daily basis from both businesses and other users. So the social network is increasingly filtering the content that shows up in a user’s News Feed based on the data Facebook finds in that user’s Facebook profile and in his or her activity on Facebook.

“Rather than showing people all possible content, News Feed is designed to show each person on Facebook the content that’s most relevant to them,” said Brian Boland, lead for the ads marketing team at Facebook. “To choose which stories to show, News Feed ranks each possible story from more to less important by looking at thousands of factors relative to each person.”

According to Boland, this filtering process is an entirely benign and innocent attempt by Facebook to ensure that Facebook users’ News Feeds are absolutely as relevant and interesting as humanely possible.

“In our tests, we’ve always found that the News Feed ranking system offers people a better, more engaging experience on Facebook,” Boland said. “We’ve gotten better at showing high-quality content. And we’ve cleaned up News Feed spam.”

Maybe so. But in the view of many businesses that have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars over the years reaching out to Facebook users—cajoling, tempting and rewarding them to Like their business pages—Facebook’s move to severely throttle back their ability to post to those Facebook followers feels like a money grab.

“To be fair to the brands here, Facebook has put on a real dog-and-pony show over the past several years to convince companies that building up their followers is a great idea and that the big payoff is the earned media that we were getting in those News Feeds,” said Meltwater’s Nuccio.

Indeed, Facebook’s Boland is quick to note that businesses wanting to override Facebook’s content filtering system and get a post into the News Feed of all the people who have Liked their business pages on Facebook can still do so. They just have to pay for it now.

In Facebook terms, that override is called a Boost, and it’s available to any business that is willing to pay for the added reach, often billed on a per-thousand-users rate scheme. Again, this “option” smells like a money grab to many Facebook business users. But like it or hate it, Facebook’s Boosts and its content-filtering system appear to be here to stay for the long haul.

While it may take many businesses some time to cotton to that new reality, they still have some ways right now to deal with the new regime:

Encourage Facebook Followers to Check “Get Notifications”: People who have Liked a business’ Facebook page can signal to Facebook that they really do want to see posts from the business if they check the Get Notifications option. To check this option, users may:

• Click “Pages Feed” on the Facebook homepage to see all the pages they’ve Liked
• Scroll through those pages to see a post from the specific business
• Click on an arrow in the right-hand corner of the business’s post
• Highlight and click “Get Notifications’

Encourage Your Followers to Recommend Your Posts: Facebook automatically increases the reach of a post from your business if one or more of your followers recommend your post to a friend or colleague. Encourage your followers to do this with every post you make.

Beef Up Your E-Mail Marketing: Many businesses are aggressively seeking the e-mail addresses of people who have Liked them on Facebook. The theory is that people have already signaled that they want communications from the business if they’ve gone out of their way to Like it on Facebook. With e-mail, you can go directly to these people without worrying about a middle man.

Bite the Bullet and Buy the Boost: Even though the deal is not nearly as good as before (when posts used to be free), buying a Boost from Facebook to reach everyone who’s Liked your page is still relatively inexpensive compared to other advertising.

“Facebook placement is really, really cheap compared to other channels,” said Meltwater’s Nuccio. “I have a consultant friend who works with a charity, and they saw their organic reach tank by 90% from a reach of 750 to about 75 with the recent changes. They then spent $200 for promoted posts, and they reached 4,500 people.”

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan.
646-233-4089
joe@joedysart.com
www.joedysart.com

SEMA News—September 2014

INTERNET
By Joe Dysart

Facebook’s Crackdown on Free Business Posts

For Many, a Bitter Pill

Businesses smarting over Facebook’s decision to severely limit their ability to communicate with people who like their business pages on the social network recently got an explanation from the web titan about the policy change. But many aren’t buying it.

“Facebook wants us to pay for real estate that we used to get for free,” said Leslie Nuccio, creative strategist for Meltwater, a social media monitoring and press relations firm.

Before the policy change, businesses absolutely loved the Facebook “Like” system. Essentially, people who clicked a button and Liked a business page on Facebook regularly received posts from that business in their Facebook News Feed. (The News Feed is the middle column on a user’s Facebook homepage that shows posts from friends, posts from businesses they’ve Liked on Facebook and old-school advertising posts.)

The Like was a marketer’s dream, in that a business on Facebook could stay in constant—sometimes daily—contact with customers by sending out interesting posts related to their products or services. Indeed, a corporate business that had, say, 300,000 people who Liked its business page on Facebook could post a text-and-image message to the social network, and all 300,000 people who were followers of the company would see that message at absolutely no cost to the business.

The smartest of these businesses also quickly realized that the way to stay Liked among current and potential customers was to engage in an authentic “conversation” with Facebook users rather than launch old-school posts in promotional blast form. In the technical jargon of marketing, this ability to send posts for free to everyone who Liked your business page on Facebook is known as “organic reach,” and marketers love it.

Sadly, however, that cozy relationship between businesses and Facebook users began to degrade about two years ago when Facebook started to severely throttle back the “reach” of posts that businesses were sending people who had Liked their pages. The result is that as little as 6% or fewer of people who have Liked a business page on Facebook these days actually receive any particular post that business sends over the social network, according to Marshall Manson, a managing director at Ogilvy & Mather. Moreover, Manson predicts that it’s only a matter of time before the organic reach of businesses on Facebook will plummet to zero.

Officially, Facebook insists that the only reason businesses on the social network are now reaching only a fraction of the people they used to reach is due to an enhanced content-filtering process that the social network has been fine-tuning during the past year. Essentially, Facebook said that its users are being inundated with too much content on a daily basis from both businesses and other users. So the social network is increasingly filtering the content that shows up in a user’s News Feed based on the data Facebook finds in that user’s Facebook profile and in his or her activity on Facebook.

“Rather than showing people all possible content, News Feed is designed to show each person on Facebook the content that’s most relevant to them,” said Brian Boland, lead for the ads marketing team at Facebook. “To choose which stories to show, News Feed ranks each possible story from more to less important by looking at thousands of factors relative to each person.”

According to Boland, this filtering process is an entirely benign and innocent attempt by Facebook to ensure that Facebook users’ News Feeds are absolutely as relevant and interesting as humanely possible.

“In our tests, we’ve always found that the News Feed ranking system offers people a better, more engaging experience on Facebook,” Boland said. “We’ve gotten better at showing high-quality content. And we’ve cleaned up News Feed spam.”

Maybe so. But in the view of many businesses that have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars over the years reaching out to Facebook users—cajoling, tempting and rewarding them to Like their business pages—Facebook’s move to severely throttle back their ability to post to those Facebook followers feels like a money grab.

“To be fair to the brands here, Facebook has put on a real dog-and-pony show over the past several years to convince companies that building up their followers is a great idea and that the big payoff is the earned media that we were getting in those News Feeds,” said Meltwater’s Nuccio.

Indeed, Facebook’s Boland is quick to note that businesses wanting to override Facebook’s content filtering system and get a post into the News Feed of all the people who have Liked their business pages on Facebook can still do so. They just have to pay for it now.

In Facebook terms, that override is called a Boost, and it’s available to any business that is willing to pay for the added reach, often billed on a per-thousand-users rate scheme. Again, this “option” smells like a money grab to many Facebook business users. But like it or hate it, Facebook’s Boosts and its content-filtering system appear to be here to stay for the long haul.

While it may take many businesses some time to cotton to that new reality, they still have some ways right now to deal with the new regime:

Encourage Facebook Followers to Check “Get Notifications”: People who have Liked a business’ Facebook page can signal to Facebook that they really do want to see posts from the business if they check the Get Notifications option. To check this option, users may:

• Click “Pages Feed” on the Facebook homepage to see all the pages they’ve Liked
• Scroll through those pages to see a post from the specific business
• Click on an arrow in the right-hand corner of the business’s post
• Highlight and click “Get Notifications’

Encourage Your Followers to Recommend Your Posts: Facebook automatically increases the reach of a post from your business if one or more of your followers recommend your post to a friend or colleague. Encourage your followers to do this with every post you make.

Beef Up Your E-Mail Marketing: Many businesses are aggressively seeking the e-mail addresses of people who have Liked them on Facebook. The theory is that people have already signaled that they want communications from the business if they’ve gone out of their way to Like it on Facebook. With e-mail, you can go directly to these people without worrying about a middle man.

Bite the Bullet and Buy the Boost: Even though the deal is not nearly as good as before (when posts used to be free), buying a Boost from Facebook to reach everyone who’s Liked your page is still relatively inexpensive compared to other advertising.

“Facebook placement is really, really cheap compared to other channels,” said Meltwater’s Nuccio. “I have a consultant friend who works with a charity, and they saw their organic reach tank by 90% from a reach of 750 to about 75 with the recent changes. They then spent $200 for promoted posts, and they reached 4,500 people.”

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan.
646-233-4089
joe@joedysart.com
www.joedysart.com

SEMA News—September 2014

INTERNET
By Joe Dysart

Facebook’s Crackdown on Free Business Posts

For Many, a Bitter Pill

Businesses smarting over Facebook’s decision to severely limit their ability to communicate with people who like their business pages on the social network recently got an explanation from the web titan about the policy change. But many aren’t buying it.

“Facebook wants us to pay for real estate that we used to get for free,” said Leslie Nuccio, creative strategist for Meltwater, a social media monitoring and press relations firm.

Before the policy change, businesses absolutely loved the Facebook “Like” system. Essentially, people who clicked a button and Liked a business page on Facebook regularly received posts from that business in their Facebook News Feed. (The News Feed is the middle column on a user’s Facebook homepage that shows posts from friends, posts from businesses they’ve Liked on Facebook and old-school advertising posts.)

The Like was a marketer’s dream, in that a business on Facebook could stay in constant—sometimes daily—contact with customers by sending out interesting posts related to their products or services. Indeed, a corporate business that had, say, 300,000 people who Liked its business page on Facebook could post a text-and-image message to the social network, and all 300,000 people who were followers of the company would see that message at absolutely no cost to the business.

The smartest of these businesses also quickly realized that the way to stay Liked among current and potential customers was to engage in an authentic “conversation” with Facebook users rather than launch old-school posts in promotional blast form. In the technical jargon of marketing, this ability to send posts for free to everyone who Liked your business page on Facebook is known as “organic reach,” and marketers love it.

Sadly, however, that cozy relationship between businesses and Facebook users began to degrade about two years ago when Facebook started to severely throttle back the “reach” of posts that businesses were sending people who had Liked their pages. The result is that as little as 6% or fewer of people who have Liked a business page on Facebook these days actually receive any particular post that business sends over the social network, according to Marshall Manson, a managing director at Ogilvy & Mather. Moreover, Manson predicts that it’s only a matter of time before the organic reach of businesses on Facebook will plummet to zero.

Officially, Facebook insists that the only reason businesses on the social network are now reaching only a fraction of the people they used to reach is due to an enhanced content-filtering process that the social network has been fine-tuning during the past year. Essentially, Facebook said that its users are being inundated with too much content on a daily basis from both businesses and other users. So the social network is increasingly filtering the content that shows up in a user’s News Feed based on the data Facebook finds in that user’s Facebook profile and in his or her activity on Facebook.

“Rather than showing people all possible content, News Feed is designed to show each person on Facebook the content that’s most relevant to them,” said Brian Boland, lead for the ads marketing team at Facebook. “To choose which stories to show, News Feed ranks each possible story from more to less important by looking at thousands of factors relative to each person.”

According to Boland, this filtering process is an entirely benign and innocent attempt by Facebook to ensure that Facebook users’ News Feeds are absolutely as relevant and interesting as humanely possible.

“In our tests, we’ve always found that the News Feed ranking system offers people a better, more engaging experience on Facebook,” Boland said. “We’ve gotten better at showing high-quality content. And we’ve cleaned up News Feed spam.”

Maybe so. But in the view of many businesses that have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars over the years reaching out to Facebook users—cajoling, tempting and rewarding them to Like their business pages—Facebook’s move to severely throttle back their ability to post to those Facebook followers feels like a money grab.

“To be fair to the brands here, Facebook has put on a real dog-and-pony show over the past several years to convince companies that building up their followers is a great idea and that the big payoff is the earned media that we were getting in those News Feeds,” said Meltwater’s Nuccio.

Indeed, Facebook’s Boland is quick to note that businesses wanting to override Facebook’s content filtering system and get a post into the News Feed of all the people who have Liked their business pages on Facebook can still do so. They just have to pay for it now.

In Facebook terms, that override is called a Boost, and it’s available to any business that is willing to pay for the added reach, often billed on a per-thousand-users rate scheme. Again, this “option” smells like a money grab to many Facebook business users. But like it or hate it, Facebook’s Boosts and its content-filtering system appear to be here to stay for the long haul.

While it may take many businesses some time to cotton to that new reality, they still have some ways right now to deal with the new regime:

Encourage Facebook Followers to Check “Get Notifications”: People who have Liked a business’ Facebook page can signal to Facebook that they really do want to see posts from the business if they check the Get Notifications option. To check this option, users may:

• Click “Pages Feed” on the Facebook homepage to see all the pages they’ve Liked
• Scroll through those pages to see a post from the specific business
• Click on an arrow in the right-hand corner of the business’s post
• Highlight and click “Get Notifications’

Encourage Your Followers to Recommend Your Posts: Facebook automatically increases the reach of a post from your business if one or more of your followers recommend your post to a friend or colleague. Encourage your followers to do this with every post you make.

Beef Up Your E-Mail Marketing: Many businesses are aggressively seeking the e-mail addresses of people who have Liked them on Facebook. The theory is that people have already signaled that they want communications from the business if they’ve gone out of their way to Like it on Facebook. With e-mail, you can go directly to these people without worrying about a middle man.

Bite the Bullet and Buy the Boost: Even though the deal is not nearly as good as before (when posts used to be free), buying a Boost from Facebook to reach everyone who’s Liked your page is still relatively inexpensive compared to other advertising.

“Facebook placement is really, really cheap compared to other channels,” said Meltwater’s Nuccio. “I have a consultant friend who works with a charity, and they saw their organic reach tank by 90% from a reach of 750 to about 75 with the recent changes. They then spent $200 for promoted posts, and they reached 4,500 people.”

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan.
646-233-4089
joe@joedysart.com
www.joedysart.com

SEMA News—September 2014

INTERNET
By Joe Dysart

Facebook’s Crackdown on Free Business Posts

For Many, a Bitter Pill

Businesses smarting over Facebook’s decision to severely limit their ability to communicate with people who like their business pages on the social network recently got an explanation from the web titan about the policy change. But many aren’t buying it.

“Facebook wants us to pay for real estate that we used to get for free,” said Leslie Nuccio, creative strategist for Meltwater, a social media monitoring and press relations firm.

Before the policy change, businesses absolutely loved the Facebook “Like” system. Essentially, people who clicked a button and Liked a business page on Facebook regularly received posts from that business in their Facebook News Feed. (The News Feed is the middle column on a user’s Facebook homepage that shows posts from friends, posts from businesses they’ve Liked on Facebook and old-school advertising posts.)

The Like was a marketer’s dream, in that a business on Facebook could stay in constant—sometimes daily—contact with customers by sending out interesting posts related to their products or services. Indeed, a corporate business that had, say, 300,000 people who Liked its business page on Facebook could post a text-and-image message to the social network, and all 300,000 people who were followers of the company would see that message at absolutely no cost to the business.

The smartest of these businesses also quickly realized that the way to stay Liked among current and potential customers was to engage in an authentic “conversation” with Facebook users rather than launch old-school posts in promotional blast form. In the technical jargon of marketing, this ability to send posts for free to everyone who Liked your business page on Facebook is known as “organic reach,” and marketers love it.

Sadly, however, that cozy relationship between businesses and Facebook users began to degrade about two years ago when Facebook started to severely throttle back the “reach” of posts that businesses were sending people who had Liked their pages. The result is that as little as 6% or fewer of people who have Liked a business page on Facebook these days actually receive any particular post that business sends over the social network, according to Marshall Manson, a managing director at Ogilvy & Mather. Moreover, Manson predicts that it’s only a matter of time before the organic reach of businesses on Facebook will plummet to zero.

Officially, Facebook insists that the only reason businesses on the social network are now reaching only a fraction of the people they used to reach is due to an enhanced content-filtering process that the social network has been fine-tuning during the past year. Essentially, Facebook said that its users are being inundated with too much content on a daily basis from both businesses and other users. So the social network is increasingly filtering the content that shows up in a user’s News Feed based on the data Facebook finds in that user’s Facebook profile and in his or her activity on Facebook.

“Rather than showing people all possible content, News Feed is designed to show each person on Facebook the content that’s most relevant to them,” said Brian Boland, lead for the ads marketing team at Facebook. “To choose which stories to show, News Feed ranks each possible story from more to less important by looking at thousands of factors relative to each person.”

According to Boland, this filtering process is an entirely benign and innocent attempt by Facebook to ensure that Facebook users’ News Feeds are absolutely as relevant and interesting as humanely possible.

“In our tests, we’ve always found that the News Feed ranking system offers people a better, more engaging experience on Facebook,” Boland said. “We’ve gotten better at showing high-quality content. And we’ve cleaned up News Feed spam.”

Maybe so. But in the view of many businesses that have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars over the years reaching out to Facebook users—cajoling, tempting and rewarding them to Like their business pages—Facebook’s move to severely throttle back their ability to post to those Facebook followers feels like a money grab.

“To be fair to the brands here, Facebook has put on a real dog-and-pony show over the past several years to convince companies that building up their followers is a great idea and that the big payoff is the earned media that we were getting in those News Feeds,” said Meltwater’s Nuccio.

Indeed, Facebook’s Boland is quick to note that businesses wanting to override Facebook’s content filtering system and get a post into the News Feed of all the people who have Liked their business pages on Facebook can still do so. They just have to pay for it now.

In Facebook terms, that override is called a Boost, and it’s available to any business that is willing to pay for the added reach, often billed on a per-thousand-users rate scheme. Again, this “option” smells like a money grab to many Facebook business users. But like it or hate it, Facebook’s Boosts and its content-filtering system appear to be here to stay for the long haul.

While it may take many businesses some time to cotton to that new reality, they still have some ways right now to deal with the new regime:

Encourage Facebook Followers to Check “Get Notifications”: People who have Liked a business’ Facebook page can signal to Facebook that they really do want to see posts from the business if they check the Get Notifications option. To check this option, users may:

• Click “Pages Feed” on the Facebook homepage to see all the pages they’ve Liked
• Scroll through those pages to see a post from the specific business
• Click on an arrow in the right-hand corner of the business’s post
• Highlight and click “Get Notifications’

Encourage Your Followers to Recommend Your Posts: Facebook automatically increases the reach of a post from your business if one or more of your followers recommend your post to a friend or colleague. Encourage your followers to do this with every post you make.

Beef Up Your E-Mail Marketing: Many businesses are aggressively seeking the e-mail addresses of people who have Liked them on Facebook. The theory is that people have already signaled that they want communications from the business if they’ve gone out of their way to Like it on Facebook. With e-mail, you can go directly to these people without worrying about a middle man.

Bite the Bullet and Buy the Boost: Even though the deal is not nearly as good as before (when posts used to be free), buying a Boost from Facebook to reach everyone who’s Liked your page is still relatively inexpensive compared to other advertising.

“Facebook placement is really, really cheap compared to other channels,” said Meltwater’s Nuccio. “I have a consultant friend who works with a charity, and they saw their organic reach tank by 90% from a reach of 750 to about 75 with the recent changes. They then spent $200 for promoted posts, and they reached 4,500 people.”

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan.
646-233-4089
joe@joedysart.com
www.joedysart.com

SEMA News—September 2014

INDUSTRY NEWS

Fast Facts

Air Lift Co. promoted Melanie Conran to consumer marketing manager. Conran has been with Air Lift since 2006 in a number of creative, IT and graphic design positions. Prior to joining Air Lift, she was a graphic design and communications specialist for the Michigan Farm Bureau. In her new position, Conran is responsible for directing a comprehensive marketing communications program for the company’s load support division. Her duties include creative and content development for digital and print communications, PR management and implementation of strategic marketing initiatives. Air Lift Co., Lansing, MI; 517-322-2144.

Royal Purple announced the panel of judges for its fourth-annual Show It Off at SEMA photo contest. The winner of the contest, which launched in July on the brand’s Facebook fan page, will have the opportunity to display his or her vehicle at the 2014 SEMA Show, November 4–7, in Las Vegas, as a feature vehicle outside the Las Vegas Convention Center. The judges are Townsend Bell, IndyCar and Tudor Sportscar Championship driver and TV personality; Tim “Skrape” Katz, vice president and co-founder of Authentic Brands Group, Tapout LLC; Jeff Thisted of Discovery Channel’s television show “Rods ‘N Wheels”; Mark Fields, 2013 Show It Off at SEMA winner; and Carrie Strange, 2013 Royal Purple Ladies Feature Vehicle Contest winner. Royal Purple, Porter, TX; 281-354-8600.

The University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH) announced that the school will offer a bachelor’s degree in automotive technology supervision. The degree is designed as a 2+2 bachelor’s program and can be completed in the College of Applied Technologies. This allows students who have obtained an associate’s degree in automotive technology, agricultural equipment technology, diesel technology, high-performance motorsports technology or alternate-fuels technology to complete the requirements for a bachelor’s degree in just two additional years of study. Prospective students fall into two categories: those who have already completed an associate’s degree and those who are just entering college for the first time. For more information about the program, or to enroll, contact the UNOH admissions office at 419-998-3120 or info@unoh.edu.

Eric Morgan of San Diego, California, won the Goodguys Tribute ’32 Ford Highboy Tudor during the Goodguys 17th PPG Nationals Columbus. Built in 2012 by Kindig-It Design, the vehicle was created as a modern-day tribute to Goodguys Founder and Chairman Gary Meadors’ original yellow Deuce Tudor (the Goodguys logo car for more than three decades). It features an all-steel body (donated by George Poteet) bathed in PPG “Goodguys Yellow,” a GM Performance Ramjet 350 engine featuring a custom intake from Arizona Speed & Marine, a Hughes transmission, a quick-change rearend from Speedway Engineering, Wilwood disc brakes and Billet Specialties “altered” front wheels and “fuelies” in back. Goodguys Enterprises Inc., Pleasanton, CA; 925-838-9876.

Ingersoll Rand donated a full suite of vehicle service power tools—valued at approximately $10,000—as part of its first Ingersoll Rand Race Day. The donation was made to Hunterdon County Polytech Career and Technical School in Annandale, New Jersey. Ingersoll Rand Race Day educates employees and customers about technical automotive industries and Ingersoll Rand tools, with a focus on the Ingersoll Rand racing program. The donation is part of an existing Ingersoll Rand student program that donates tool packages and offers a discount to students registered in vocational and technical programs for high schools or colleges. Ingersoll Rand, Annandale, NJ; 908-238-7000.

In a move designed to strategically realign the company’s executive and administrative operations, Roadwire Inc. has relocated its world headquarters to a state-of-the-art facility in Austin, Texas. The new, 20,000-sq.-ft. headquarters will serve as the hub for the company’s global operations and features expansive office space for executive and administrative staff. Roadwire, Santa Fe Springs, CA; 951-965-6390.

Rattletrap Productions Inc. announced that Stacey David’s “GearZ” will begin airing on Sunday mornings in October at 8:30 a.m. (EST) on the Velocity channel. With more than 100 episodes in syndication, “GearZ” is full of how-to editorial that covers everything from hardcore fabrication and makeovers to simple tips and tricks. It’s also packed with informative stories on people, products and events. Rattletrap Productions Inc., White House, TN; 615-868-6203.

Performance Industry Publications (PIP) was recently sold to manufacturer James Wilkins, who takes over as president and CEO. PIP was started 10 years ago by automotive aftermarket veteran Fleet Thompson to help facilitate communications between manufacturers, retailers and consumers to stimulate sales. Thompson will remain with PIP and head up the company’s marketing and sales. Wilkins is also the owner of Centillion Industries, which manufactures automotive aftermarket and motorcycle parts for OEMs.

Power Automedia has announced plans to launch a new digital magazine targeted toward sport-compact performance enthusiasts. Titled “Revved,” the new publication will deliver enthusiast content, including tech insight and how-to guidance, the latest specs in wheels and tires, show and lifestyle highlights and high-performance driving and handling techniques. Power Automedia currently publishes 10 automotive performance magazines that reach more than 1.3 million readers a month. Power Automedia plans to launch “Revved” in the fourth quarter of 2014 at www.revvedmag.com. Power Automedia, Murrieta, CA; 951-677-2626.

UnderCover’s newly designed Elite tonneau cover now comes standard with Strattec Security Corp.’s Bolt lock incorporated into the cover’s newly designed handle. The custom-fit tonneau cover is made of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene composite material, which is strong and durable. With a full perimeter seal, the Elite protects gear from damaging weather. Bolt locks are available for many General Motors, Ford, Ram/Jeep, Toyota and Nissan vehicles and come with a limited lifetime warranty. UnderCover, Rogersville, MO; 417-753-8000.

Trim Parts Holdings Corp. has acquired The Right Stuff Detailing and all of its assets, adding to Trim Parts’ family of top-tier restoration-parts manufacturing companies. The Right Stuff will maintain its operations in Westerville, Ohio, and both customers and consumers should experience a seamless transition to the new ownership. The Right Stuff management team will continue in their current roles. Trim Parts Holdings has also acquired Mr. Mustang, manufacturer and distributor high-quality ‘64–’73 Ford Mustang restoration components. Founded in 1975 by Carl Pendley, Mr. Mustang became a highly respected and well-known name among Mustang enthusiasts around the world by manufacturing its brand of more than 200 components to exact OEM specifications. Mr. Mustang will operate out of Trim Parts’ facility in Lebanon, Ohio, and production will be headed up by Pendley’s daughter, Connie Johnson.

Enerpulse Technologies has added Mathew Truster as the company’s new aftermarket business unit manager. Truster is responsible for leading the sales growth of Pulstar with PlasmaCore, the latest edition of the company’s line of Pulstar sparkplugs. Truster will devise and implement sales strategy, provide support to the company’s distribution channel partners and ensure product data information accuracy. Truster joins Enerpulse with a diverse background in sales, including 15 years as a senior sales representative for Mantek, a division of NCH Corp. Enerpulse Inc., Albuquerque, NM; 505-842-5201.

Betts Co. introduced its new corporate website: www.betts1868.com. The website serves as the centerpiece of the company’s new branding initiative to help introduce the six-generation family-owned and -managed business to customers, prospects and the general public. The Betts Co. home page includes links to the websites for its three operating divisions, Betts Spring Manufacturing, BettsHD and Betts Truck Parts and Service. Betts Spring Co. Inc., Fresno, CA; 559-498-3304.

Tire Group International (TGI) announced that the company has hired Kevin O’Brien as vice president of strategic accounts for its domestic division and Rishi Raj Bhatnagar as a territory manager. O’Brien, who was previously vice president of sales for Ameriquest Transportation, has been in the tire industry for more than 20 years and has a vast amount of experience in the trucking industry. Bhatnagar, who brings more than 25 years of experience in the retreading industry in the African market to TGI, will work to continue developing and growing the African market.

Axalta Coating Systems is sponsoring First State Robotics of Delaware and the Miracles of Engineering First Tech Challenge team. Axalta awarded a scholarship to robotics team member Noah Andrews, a recent high school graduate who is looking to start college in the fall as an information technology major focusing on security. Axalta Coating Systems, Glen Mills, PA; 610-358-4941

Yokohama Tire Corp. announced that it will move its western region distribution center from the company’s current facility in Fullerton, California, to a new 658,000-square-foot facility in Chino, California. The move is expected to be completed late this year. The new western region distribution center, located at 16388 Fern Avenue in the county of San Bernardino, is designed to hold tires at more than twice the capacity of the existing warehouse and bring together both full-time and contract labor. It will be used to distribute Yokohama’s products. Yokohama Tire Corp., Fullerton, CA; 714-870-3800.

Flaming River Industries Inc. announced that hot rodding and racing veteran Ron Skyrme will join its team. Skyrme will lead new-business development for Flaming River and will call on customers and represent Flaming River at industry shows and events in areas primarily west of the Mississippi River. Skyrme has been involved in the automotive industry since the early ‘70s and started out in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he opened his own paint and striping shop at the age of 22. He most recently finished a 24-year career with DuPont USA, working as a technical advisor in the automotive finishes division. Flaming River Industries Inc., Berea, OH; 440-826-4488.

SEMA News—September 2014

INDUSTRY NEWS

Fast Facts

Air Lift Co. promoted Melanie Conran to consumer marketing manager. Conran has been with Air Lift since 2006 in a number of creative, IT and graphic design positions. Prior to joining Air Lift, she was a graphic design and communications specialist for the Michigan Farm Bureau. In her new position, Conran is responsible for directing a comprehensive marketing communications program for the company’s load support division. Her duties include creative and content development for digital and print communications, PR management and implementation of strategic marketing initiatives. Air Lift Co., Lansing, MI; 517-322-2144.

Royal Purple announced the panel of judges for its fourth-annual Show It Off at SEMA photo contest. The winner of the contest, which launched in July on the brand’s Facebook fan page, will have the opportunity to display his or her vehicle at the 2014 SEMA Show, November 4–7, in Las Vegas, as a feature vehicle outside the Las Vegas Convention Center. The judges are Townsend Bell, IndyCar and Tudor Sportscar Championship driver and TV personality; Tim “Skrape” Katz, vice president and co-founder of Authentic Brands Group, Tapout LLC; Jeff Thisted of Discovery Channel’s television show “Rods ‘N Wheels”; Mark Fields, 2013 Show It Off at SEMA winner; and Carrie Strange, 2013 Royal Purple Ladies Feature Vehicle Contest winner. Royal Purple, Porter, TX; 281-354-8600.

The University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH) announced that the school will offer a bachelor’s degree in automotive technology supervision. The degree is designed as a 2+2 bachelor’s program and can be completed in the College of Applied Technologies. This allows students who have obtained an associate’s degree in automotive technology, agricultural equipment technology, diesel technology, high-performance motorsports technology or alternate-fuels technology to complete the requirements for a bachelor’s degree in just two additional years of study. Prospective students fall into two categories: those who have already completed an associate’s degree and those who are just entering college for the first time. For more information about the program, or to enroll, contact the UNOH admissions office at 419-998-3120 or info@unoh.edu.

Eric Morgan of San Diego, California, won the Goodguys Tribute ’32 Ford Highboy Tudor during the Goodguys 17th PPG Nationals Columbus. Built in 2012 by Kindig-It Design, the vehicle was created as a modern-day tribute to Goodguys Founder and Chairman Gary Meadors’ original yellow Deuce Tudor (the Goodguys logo car for more than three decades). It features an all-steel body (donated by George Poteet) bathed in PPG “Goodguys Yellow,” a GM Performance Ramjet 350 engine featuring a custom intake from Arizona Speed & Marine, a Hughes transmission, a quick-change rearend from Speedway Engineering, Wilwood disc brakes and Billet Specialties “altered” front wheels and “fuelies” in back. Goodguys Enterprises Inc., Pleasanton, CA; 925-838-9876.

Ingersoll Rand donated a full suite of vehicle service power tools—valued at approximately $10,000—as part of its first Ingersoll Rand Race Day. The donation was made to Hunterdon County Polytech Career and Technical School in Annandale, New Jersey. Ingersoll Rand Race Day educates employees and customers about technical automotive industries and Ingersoll Rand tools, with a focus on the Ingersoll Rand racing program. The donation is part of an existing Ingersoll Rand student program that donates tool packages and offers a discount to students registered in vocational and technical programs for high schools or colleges. Ingersoll Rand, Annandale, NJ; 908-238-7000.

In a move designed to strategically realign the company’s executive and administrative operations, Roadwire Inc. has relocated its world headquarters to a state-of-the-art facility in Austin, Texas. The new, 20,000-sq.-ft. headquarters will serve as the hub for the company’s global operations and features expansive office space for executive and administrative staff. Roadwire, Santa Fe Springs, CA; 951-965-6390.

Rattletrap Productions Inc. announced that Stacey David’s “GearZ” will begin airing on Sunday mornings in October at 8:30 a.m. (EST) on the Velocity channel. With more than 100 episodes in syndication, “GearZ” is full of how-to editorial that covers everything from hardcore fabrication and makeovers to simple tips and tricks. It’s also packed with informative stories on people, products and events. Rattletrap Productions Inc., White House, TN; 615-868-6203.

Performance Industry Publications (PIP) was recently sold to manufacturer James Wilkins, who takes over as president and CEO. PIP was started 10 years ago by automotive aftermarket veteran Fleet Thompson to help facilitate communications between manufacturers, retailers and consumers to stimulate sales. Thompson will remain with PIP and head up the company’s marketing and sales. Wilkins is also the owner of Centillion Industries, which manufactures automotive aftermarket and motorcycle parts for OEMs.

Power Automedia has announced plans to launch a new digital magazine targeted toward sport-compact performance enthusiasts. Titled “Revved,” the new publication will deliver enthusiast content, including tech insight and how-to guidance, the latest specs in wheels and tires, show and lifestyle highlights and high-performance driving and handling techniques. Power Automedia currently publishes 10 automotive performance magazines that reach more than 1.3 million readers a month. Power Automedia plans to launch “Revved” in the fourth quarter of 2014 at www.revvedmag.com. Power Automedia, Murrieta, CA; 951-677-2626.

UnderCover’s newly designed Elite tonneau cover now comes standard with Strattec Security Corp.’s Bolt lock incorporated into the cover’s newly designed handle. The custom-fit tonneau cover is made of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene composite material, which is strong and durable. With a full perimeter seal, the Elite protects gear from damaging weather. Bolt locks are available for many General Motors, Ford, Ram/Jeep, Toyota and Nissan vehicles and come with a limited lifetime warranty. UnderCover, Rogersville, MO; 417-753-8000.

Trim Parts Holdings Corp. has acquired The Right Stuff Detailing and all of its assets, adding to Trim Parts’ family of top-tier restoration-parts manufacturing companies. The Right Stuff will maintain its operations in Westerville, Ohio, and both customers and consumers should experience a seamless transition to the new ownership. The Right Stuff management team will continue in their current roles. Trim Parts Holdings has also acquired Mr. Mustang, manufacturer and distributor high-quality ‘64–’73 Ford Mustang restoration components. Founded in 1975 by Carl Pendley, Mr. Mustang became a highly respected and well-known name among Mustang enthusiasts around the world by manufacturing its brand of more than 200 components to exact OEM specifications. Mr. Mustang will operate out of Trim Parts’ facility in Lebanon, Ohio, and production will be headed up by Pendley’s daughter, Connie Johnson.

Enerpulse Technologies has added Mathew Truster as the company’s new aftermarket business unit manager. Truster is responsible for leading the sales growth of Pulstar with PlasmaCore, the latest edition of the company’s line of Pulstar sparkplugs. Truster will devise and implement sales strategy, provide support to the company’s distribution channel partners and ensure product data information accuracy. Truster joins Enerpulse with a diverse background in sales, including 15 years as a senior sales representative for Mantek, a division of NCH Corp. Enerpulse Inc., Albuquerque, NM; 505-842-5201.

Betts Co. introduced its new corporate website: www.betts1868.com. The website serves as the centerpiece of the company’s new branding initiative to help introduce the six-generation family-owned and -managed business to customers, prospects and the general public. The Betts Co. home page includes links to the websites for its three operating divisions, Betts Spring Manufacturing, BettsHD and Betts Truck Parts and Service. Betts Spring Co. Inc., Fresno, CA; 559-498-3304.

Tire Group International (TGI) announced that the company has hired Kevin O’Brien as vice president of strategic accounts for its domestic division and Rishi Raj Bhatnagar as a territory manager. O’Brien, who was previously vice president of sales for Ameriquest Transportation, has been in the tire industry for more than 20 years and has a vast amount of experience in the trucking industry. Bhatnagar, who brings more than 25 years of experience in the retreading industry in the African market to TGI, will work to continue developing and growing the African market.

Axalta Coating Systems is sponsoring First State Robotics of Delaware and the Miracles of Engineering First Tech Challenge team. Axalta awarded a scholarship to robotics team member Noah Andrews, a recent high school graduate who is looking to start college in the fall as an information technology major focusing on security. Axalta Coating Systems, Glen Mills, PA; 610-358-4941

Yokohama Tire Corp. announced that it will move its western region distribution center from the company’s current facility in Fullerton, California, to a new 658,000-square-foot facility in Chino, California. The move is expected to be completed late this year. The new western region distribution center, located at 16388 Fern Avenue in the county of San Bernardino, is designed to hold tires at more than twice the capacity of the existing warehouse and bring together both full-time and contract labor. It will be used to distribute Yokohama’s products. Yokohama Tire Corp., Fullerton, CA; 714-870-3800.

Flaming River Industries Inc. announced that hot rodding and racing veteran Ron Skyrme will join its team. Skyrme will lead new-business development for Flaming River and will call on customers and represent Flaming River at industry shows and events in areas primarily west of the Mississippi River. Skyrme has been involved in the automotive industry since the early ‘70s and started out in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he opened his own paint and striping shop at the age of 22. He most recently finished a 24-year career with DuPont USA, working as a technical advisor in the automotive finishes division. Flaming River Industries Inc., Berea, OH; 440-826-4488.